


de omnibus dubitandum

by teeandrainbows



Series: Troped! [20]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/F, Horror, Implied Sexual Content, Polyamory, Post-Apocalypse, Strangers to Lovers, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, background lostia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:53:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27185479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teeandrainbows/pseuds/teeandrainbows
Summary: After vampires took over the world, the Hunter Association was the only thing that stood between the creatures of the night and the rest of humanity.  Lexa, commander of the association, was determined to bring the world to a better place, no matter the cost.And then she met Josephine Lightbourne.
Relationships: Echo/Josephine Lightbourne, Echo/Lexa (The 100), Lexa/Echo/Josephine Lightbourne, Lexa/Josephine Lightbourne
Series: Troped! [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547764
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9
Collections: TROPED Choice: Horror





	de omnibus dubitandum

**Author's Note:**

> A submission for Chopped Choice Horror!
> 
> Theme: Post-Apocalyptic  
> Tropes: Hunter AU, Mythical Creature, Strangers to Lovers, “give up all your weapons” and that one person that spends the entire evening taking their weights worth out of their pockets
> 
> Entered into Most Unique Pairing with Lexa/Echo/Josephine!

When the first vampire coven revealed itself and attacked, the government tried to pass it off as an isolated, contained incident. Everyone was safe. It was only Philadelphia that was affected, nowhere else.

Then it was Boston. Then Dallas. Then Los Angeles turned into a bloodbath almost overnight.

It wasn’t just America, either. All over the world, vampires were wreaking havoc on the human population. In the span of a few months, nowhere was safe.

In five years, the world was completely unrecognizable. What was left of humanity lived in fear of the vampires that threatened the very survival of the human race. Of course, that was until the Hunter Association was founded by Luna Fenn, a bold, fearless woman. Their mission was to rid the world of vampires and help the human race survive, and one day also thrive once more.

In San Francisco, it was dark. Not nightfall, yet (no human with more than a shred of intelligence would be caught dead outside at night), but dark. The clouds were thick and to make matters worse, it was raining.

Lexa stayed against the brick wall of the old building to her left, advancing slowly down the street. At this time of day, the vampires would be feeding. There were groups of humans who had sold themselves, sold their souls to the vampires in exchange for their families to live in the towers free from the fear of death or being turned. Those humans were now little more than bloodbags for the vampires. Lexa crinkled her nose at the thought. An old friend of hers had become a bloodbag to save her mother and daughter, and Lexa hadn’t heard from her since.

Tonight, though, she didn’t want to dwell on the past. Tonight, she was focusing on the future. Ever since Luna had abruptly decided to step down from her position as commander of the Hunter Association a month ago, Lexa had assumed command. It had been a no-brainer. She was the longest-serving hunter alive after Luna, and it had been thanks to Lexa that they had taken back Sacramento four months before Luna stepped down.

And tonight, she was leading a strike on one of the most prodigious vampire covens in San Francisco. If the rumours were true, Wallace was one of the original vampires in the city, and killing him would send a clear message to the other covens. She couldn’t fail.

Footsteps behind her had Lexa freezing in place, her hand on the sword Luna had given her before disappearing a month ago.

“It’s me.  _ Ad meliora _ ,” she heard behind her. The voice was familiar, and Lexa allowed herself to relax only slightly, turning around and extending her free hand to the tall brunette behind her.

“ _ De omnibus dubitandum _ ,” she replied, shaking the woman’s hand. “It’s good to see you, Echo.”

“Likewise,” Echo replied, shaking Lexa’s hand, then crossing her arms in front of her. “I couldn’t resist the call you put out. The chance to take down Wallace? I’ll take it.”

“I knew you would,” Lexa said, allowing a ghost of a smile to cross her lips. Echo had been a member of the Hunter Association nearly as long as Lexa had, although she operated mostly out of Seattle. Given the mission Lexa was on, though, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to call in a high ranking hunter like Echo.

“My team is in place, approaching from the south. I took the long way around, to ensure I wasn’t followed,” Echo reported, glancing at Lexa’s hand, still with fingers curled around the hilt of her sword.

“Good,” Lexa replied, gesturing for Echo to follow her. “I have teams approaching from the north and east. Let’s take this bastard down.”

Echo fell in stride behind Lexa, and the pair made their way down the street, towards the old hotel Wallace had turned into his home. When they were a block away, Lexa held up her hand and motioned for Echo to cross to the other side of the street.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a chipper voice from above rang out.

Instantly, Lexa drew her sword and whirled around, searching for the newcomer. Echo was also on high alert, her own sword drawn. There was a high pitched giggle and a girl hopped down from the top of a crumbling wall beside them.

“Who are you?” Lexa demanded, holding her sword out, pointed directly at the girl.

“You don’t have to worry about me, I’m not a vampire,” the girl said, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. She was wearing a tank top and pants, and looked like she belonged at a gym in the days before the vampire attacks had started. “My name’s Josephine. Josephine Lightbourne. And you must be the hunters going after Wallace.”

Lexa squinted at the girl, trying to make sense of it all. Somehow, this girl knew exactly what their mission was. And that meant… did Wallace know? Was this Josephine Lightbourne a bloodbag working for Wallace?

Echo must have been thinking the same thing as she stepped forward, pinning Josephine to the wall with her forearm against the girl’s throat.

“What do you know about our mission?” she demanded as Lexa moved closer, her sword still pointed at the still-giggling girl.

“Oh, not much. Just enough to know that Wallace is expecting an attack tonight. He’s not there, just a bunch of his bloodbags and soldiers,” the blonde quipped, seemingly unperturbed by the elbow to her throat and the sword to her face. In fact, she almost seemed to enjoy it.

“And how do you know that?” Lexa asked.

“I just do. What’s it worth to you?” Josephine replied, arching an eyebrow at her.

“Where is your proof?” Echo barked, her voice taking on a dangerous tone Lexa knew all too well. She had seen Echo in action many times. The taller girl had a ferality to her, and many vampires had found themselves on the wrong end of her sword.

“Follow me and I’ll show you,” the blonde chirped, tilting her head to the side. “I’m sure two badass hunters like yourselves can handle a single, unarmed girl. And trust me. I’m on your side.”

Echo glanced back at Lexa. “Your call.”

Lexa pondered it for a moment, then pulled out a walkie talkie. “Stand down. Abort mission,” she muttered into it before putting it away. Then she regarded the blonde with a long look. “You’re looking at two of the highest ranked hunters in America,” she warned Josephine, “so I wouldn’t try any funny business if I were you.”

The girl shrugged her shoulders and twirled her hair around her finger again once Echo released her at a word from Lexa. “It’ll be worth your while.”

Josephine led the pair down side streets to a back alley where a derelict, old building had a single, rickety door.

“In there,” the blonde said, grinning.

Lexa glanced at Echo. It seemed they were on the same wavelength, as neither of them had let their guard down once.

“Oh, fine. I’ll go first,” Josephine said, drawing out the final word. “Do the two of you even trust anyone?”

Lexa chose not to answer her, but instead touched her fingers to the pendant hanging on a chain around her neck. It had been given to her by perhaps the only person Lexa had ever fully trusted. Of course, that had been before Costia had fallen in the attacks on Boston.

Echo must have picked up on Lexa’s discomfort, as she took a step forward. “Look at what we do for a living.”

“Fair point,” Josephine replied, shrugging. “Come on in.”

She opened the door and led the pair down an old, rickety staircase. At the landing at the bottom of the steps, she turned.

“I’m going to need the two of you to remove all of your weapons,” she said. As if sensing the coming protests, she held up her hands. “If you want to know where Wallace went, I’m going to need you to trust me. I have zero interest in hurting you, and besides, the two of you are probably more than capable of taking me down, even without weapons. So what do you say?”

Echo glanced sideways at her, and Lexa let out a long sigh. “Fine,” she said, undoing the belt holding the scabbard for Luna’s sword. Next came the daggers at her hips, followed by the taser she had once famously used on Charles Pike. Beside her, Echo had opened her leather coat and was removing daggers and adding them to the pile along with her own sword.

Once finished, they looked over at Josephine with an expectant expression.

“All, I said,” she murmured.

Lexa drew in a breath, reaching behind her to pull the small handgun she had hidden, then bent down to her boots, pulling daggers out of them, too. Echo was also bent down, pulling throwing stars and even a crowbar out of her own knee-high boots. Finally, Lexa spread her hands wide.

“That’s everything.”

Josephine giggled. “If you don’t remove everything, then you will never know where Wallace went.”

Lexa frowned. She had no more weapons left to remove. Glancing over at Echo, she was shocked to see more daggers and throwing stars behind added to the pile, and finally a handgun.

“Now we’re talking,” Josephine said, turning and tapping the keypad by the door she had been standing beside. It opened, and she gestured for the pair to follow her in.

The first thing Lexa noticed was that there were books everywhere. She scanned the room with her eyes, taking in as much information as she could, and beside her, she knew Echo was doing the same. They had both been trained by the same person, after all. Finally, her gaze landed back on Josephine who was walking backwards towards a curtain hanging in the corner.

“Allow me to introduce you to my good friend Kaylee, otherwise known as the bitch who sold herself to Wallace in exchange for a quick fix,” she said, drawing back the curtain to reveal a girl with messy hair and tattered clothing locked in a cage. The girl hissed at the light, holding her arms up to cover her eyes.

“I found her yesterday,” Josephine explained, shrugging as if it were the most normal thing in the world, “and brought her down here where she spun quite the story.”

“Where’s Wallace?” Kaylee whined suddenly, then screamed and shook the bars of the cage. “I need Wallace!”

Lexa couldn’t bring herself to look at the girl in the cage. Instead, she kept her eyes firmly fixed on Josephine.

“Apparently Wallace took off two days ago. Left all his bloodbags behind. The only thing he told them was that he had good intel that the Hunter Association was closing in on him,” Josephine finished, crossing her arms and turning back to where Kaylee was still screaming. “Shut it!” she snapped. Kaylee immediately demurred, retreating to the back of the cage.

Deep breaths, Lexa had to remind herself. “How does that help us, now?” she asked.

Josephine giggled. “My other friend managed to track him down to an abandoned warehouse. You can take your hunters there. You’ll find him there, sulking. And when you kill him, come back and find me, and thank me then,” she said, smirking. “You know, the two of you are probably the hottest hunters I’ve ever seen.”

Echo scoffed, turning around and walking towards the door. “Let’s go,” she said. Lexa coughed, and the tall brunette glanced back at her. Behind her, Josephine coughed, hiding a word that sounded suspiciously like “whipped”.

“Thank you for your help,” Lexa said, extending a hand to the blonde. “ _ Ad meliora _ .” She ignored the small noise of disapproval from Echo.

“ _ De omnibus dubitandum _ ,” Josephine replied, shaking her hand. She then turned back to the cage, murmuring something to the girl trapped inside.

Lexa turned back to Echo, arching her eyebrow. “She knew the response,” she said, shrugging. “That’s as good a reason as any to trust her.”

Echo scoffed. “Anyone who keeps people in cages like that can’t be trusted,” she muttered, “no matter how good the intel is.”

Back on the landing, they picked up all their weapons and headed up the staircase. Emerging into the dreary outdoors, Echo was the first to point it out.

“Nightfall,” she said.

Lexa nodded. “Let’s get to shelter.”

After a few days of regrouping, Lexa led her teams and Echo’s team in a strike on the warehouse Josephine had told them about. If Wallace had any prior knowledge of the attack, it was hardly evident. With swords flashing and guns roaring, it was almost easy to take down the vampires guarding Wallace.

Lexa had the honour of decapitating Wallace himself, with Echo by her side. That night, they celebrated at one of Lexa’s safe houses.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Echo,” she said with genuine respect in her voice.

Echo smiled despite herself, trying to hide it by dropping her head down. “I guess we were right to trust Josephine.”

Right.

Josephine.

Lexa nodded thoughtfully. “She did say to go back to her once we had done it. Maybe she knows more. Maybe she can help us find other covens.”

Echo shrugged. “It’s possible,” she said, taking a sip of the wine they had opened.

With that, they made their way back to Josephine’s hideout the next day, only to find the door locked.

“I wonder where she is,” Lexa murmured, glancing sideways at Echo.

“I was wondering if you two would come back,” Josephine’s high pitched voice rang out behind them and they turned.

“Your intel panned out,” Lexa said, offering a polite smile. “We came back to thank you.”

Josephine took a few steps forward until she was closer than was socially acceptable to Lexa’s face. “Oh, silly, don’t worry about it. No thanks needed. Just doing what’s necessary to make the world a better place.”

“Still, though,” Lexa started, taking a half step back, “thank you. We couldn’t have gotten Wallace without you.”

Josephine gave a cat-like grin. “Want to come in? I promise Kaylee’s not down there. We could share a bottle of wine? You two could tell me about the raid?” Her eyes flashed and Lexa nodded. It seemed like a good idea.

“Of course,” she said, gesturing for Echo to follow her.

Once they were downstairs and their weapons were in a pile, Josephine let them through the second door and into the room full of books. She cleared three chairs around a table and gestured for them to sit. There was already a bottle of wine and three glasses set out.

“I was really glad when I saw you two here. I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” she said, her voice practically a purr as she poured the wine.

Lexa shrugged a shoulder, but it was Echo who spoke. “What is it you do?” she asked.

Josephine grinned. “I’m so glad you asked. I’m a historian. All of these books are for my research,” she said, sweeping her arm to indicate the piles of books around the room. “What about the two of you? What did you do, you know… before?”

An awkward silence fell in the room. It was a generally understood rule amongst hunters that they didn’t talk about before. They were focused on the future. On moving toward better things. Lexa didn’t see any harm in talking about the past with Josephine, though. The blonde had proven herself trustworthy, and she was being so polite now.

“I was a teacher,” she said, glancing down at her lap. It was how she had met Costia. Sometimes she wondered whether or not her students were still alive.

“I worked at a bank,” Echo spoke up. “The Azgeda Credit Union.”

“And now you’re both badass hunters,” Josephine quipped. “Do you like it?”

Lexa shrugged once more. “It’s alright. I do what I have to do. Anything to get rid of the vampires in this world.”

Josephine pressed her lips together. “Right,” she said, glancing between them. “And how did you two meet?”

“We trained together,” Echo said, setting down her wine glass. “Under Luna. I was in the second group of recruits, but Lexa was in the first group. She was my mentor.”

Josephine hummed in interest, and Lexa took a sip of her wine. “And now Echo is one of my most trusted captains,” she said, glancing at the taller girl. “I couldn’t do any of what I do without her.”

“And how long have the two of you been, you know… together?” Josephine asked suddenly.

Lexa felt her mouth go dry. She glanced sideways once more to see Echo frozen with her hand on her glass.

“We’re not together,” Lexa said quickly, shaking her head. “We’re just friends.”

“ _ Just _ friends?” Josephine asked, her eyes flashing once again. “I find that hard to believe. Echo practically worships you. I can tell by the way she looks at you.”

Lexa blinked, shifting uncomfortably as Josephine continued. “And you, Lexa, you linger when you look at Echo. I don’t blame you. She’s gorgeous. If I wasn’t so sure the two of you were together, I would have kissed her.”

It was hard to even look at Echo, now. Lexa couldn’t deny that she had occasionally wondered what it would be like to be with Echo. The taller girl had always been there for her, and Josephine had made a good point. Echo was gorgeous.

“Look, you know how you two came here to thank me? Why don’t you kiss each other. If there’s nothing there, then I’ll leave you two alone. But I’m rarely wrong,” Josephine added, smirking.

Lexa hesitated, turning to Echo. Echo looked back at her, a question in her eyes. The worst part was, Lexa knew that if she wanted to do it, then Echo would do it. Echo was just that loyal to her.

“Fine,” Lexa said, reaching across and taking Echo’s hand in hers. “Trust me,” she whispered, leaning over and pressing her lips against Echo’s, softly and quickly. As they parted, Lexa could see Echo searching her with her eyes, her expression softer than Lexa could ever remember on the taller girl.

Josephine groaned. “Come oooon,” she said, rising to her feet and walking around the table to Lexa. “That’s not a kiss. This is a kiss.” She pulled Lexa up out of her chair to her, pressing her lips firmly against Lexa’s. The shock of it had Lexa gasping ever-so-slightly, but it was enough for Josephine to immediately take advantage of her parted lips, deepening the kiss. It had been so long since Lexa had last been kissed like that and after the initial shock, her arms went around Josephine’s neck. When they parted, Lexa was panting slightly. Josephine grinned, biting her lower lip.

“Did you want to try that, Echo?” she asked. Lexa glanced over her shoulder to see Echo with her mouth open in an ‘o’ shape and her eyes wide. Josephine swept past Lexa, pulling Echo into her arms and kissing her. Lexa swallowed as she watched, wrapping her arms around herself. When the pair parted, Josephine turned back to Lexa.

“Now that you two both know what a proper kiss is, why don’t you try that again,” she purred.

Lexa made eye contact with Echo and stepped towards her. Echo met her halfway and they were kissing. It was more passionate than either of their kisses with Josephine, and as Lexa twisted her fingers in Echo’s hair, she realized she had been wanting this. Absently, she felt Josephine’s hand on her shoulder and Lexa broke the kiss with Echo, turning and kissing Josephine once more. In the corner of her eye, she noticed Echo was flushed and breathing heavily, even as Josephine slowly began to lift Lexa’s long-sleeved shirt off over her head.

At some point, the three of them ended up in a bed in the corner of the room, tangled together in a mess of limbs. Lexa sat up, bending over Echo’s shoulder and kissing her temple. Echo smiled, her eyes still closed, and reached back with her hand to run her fingers along the curve of Lexa’s side.

Behind her, Josephine was playing with her hair. “You really are gorgeous,” the blonde breathed against Lexa’s shoulder, pressing an open-mouthed kiss on the spot. Her teeth grazed against Lexa’s skin, and Lexa turned over, finding her lips once more.

It continued like that for months. Josephine provided information on where a vampire coven was hiding, Lexa and Echo led the hunters in killing the vampires, and they returned to Josephine’s basement where they slept together after dropping all of their weapons. Sometimes Lexa and Echo would sleep together while on a mission across the country, and when they returned, Josephine seemed to know. She wasn’t jealous, though. Lexa was certain of that.

One night, half a year after first meeting Josephine, Lexa was sitting on the bed reading one of the blonde’s books while her two girlfriends lay in bed together. When she turned the page, she noticed a dark stain on one page. It looked strangely like blood. She frowned, staring down at the stain, then shrugged. It was probably nothing.

Josephine stirred on the bed and sat up, smiling at Lexa. “Whatcha doing?” she asked.

Lexa glanced over. Of course Josephine was naked.

“Reading. This one’s interesting.”

“Come over here,” Josephine whined, and Lexa sighed.

“Fine,” she said, walking to the bed where Josephine pulled her down and kissed her. As they parted, Echo woke up and wrapped her arms around both of them.

“I love you both,” Josephine murmured.

Lexa drew in a breath, watching Josephine with questioning eyes.

“I mean it,” the blonde said. “I really do. Which is why this is so difficult.”

At the question in Lexa’s eyes, and as Echo sat up, confused, their girlfriend sighed.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Josephine asked, arching an eyebrow.

First Lexa, then Echo nodded.

Josephine gave a catlike grin. “Remember Kaylee?”

Lexa nodded. Now she was curious. Beside her, Echo frowned.

“She wasn’t Wallace’s bloodbag.”

Josephine’s grin grew wider, and Lexa could only watch in horror as twin fangs emerged from her gums.

“She was mine.  _ De omnibus dubitandum _ .”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos make my day! Thanks to Bailey and Sara! Check out the other amazing fics in this collection!
> 
> Ad meliora = toward better things  
> de omnibus dubitandum = be suspicious of everything
> 
> I like to think in this universe, Josephine genuinely does like Lexa and Echo; she just can't help her own nature as a vampire. By helping them take down other vampires, it propels her to being the most powerful one on her own, and that was her motivation.


End file.
